Nice little piece of kit from TRP

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/04/bikes-and-tech/2011-sea-otter-classic-trps-hydraulic-cyclocross-brakes_169011

The folks at TRP have taken a step to address that shortfall by connecting the brake cables to a satellite master cylinder under the stem.

Neat solution…but OLD!

Back of the class!

Rubbish
Ugly
Pointless

That’s a bit harsh.

Looks quite neat, but not new. I’ve been running Hope E4 brakes from my 105 STi levers for a while now.

Good Idea
Tidy
More power

No way I’d put that monstrosity on my road bike. I don’t think people will buy into it until there is a proper lever developed.

SRAM or shimano will sort something out in time. But I don’t quite get the need on a cross bike as you will quickly over power your small tyre contact patch. And avid bb brakes do a fine job.

No way would I run cantis on my cx…you may be able to lock up your back wheel but have so many drawbacks in comparison. IME.

What drawbacks would they be, then?

Maybe having your stem up in orbit is fine for cx or tourers, but I wouldn’t fancy it on my road bike. Despite the advantages claimed by some folk, i don’t hear any appetite for hydro brakes amongst the guys I race with. However I’m sure if the bike companies want us to have them, in the end…..

Why though?

The brakes on my road bike are probably more powerfull than the 140/160mm combo on my XC bike, and work perfectly well even in the wet.

The brakes on my tourer (50yr old cantis) can stop it perfectly well, even when fully laden (about 175kg for me+bike+kit).

Why would I upgrade to a heavier, more complicated system?

Hydraulic brakes on a road Bike ?

Part of the reason for the delay in getting hydro discs on to drop bikes is down to the complexity of STIs and the lack of room for master cylinders etc but surely with Di2 this would be a whole lot easier as you only really need a small switch in the lever. Can’t be that long until we see lightweight, small rotor, hydro discs on CX bikes with Di2 I would have thought. Especially with the Ultegra Di2 making it cheaper too.

Whilst I’ve no yearning for hydros on my roadbike having them on my commuter might be a nice idea.

Ultegra di2 eh? Hmm, when do we get xt di2?

and why is that front rotor on the wrong side luminous?

Donk.

Speak to the manuf.

I discovered this bike when I was speaking to a Mag, sometime ago about an article for my lights.

The Maunf is an F1 Supplier, and they fancied doing a bike.

Its not in my price range. I’m not too sure about the ” dash board ” instrument display either, but Hey-Ho.

🙂

The bike is basically the showcase for the technology.
Freed from UCI regs and using the latest F1 Tech and sensors it was a kind of “This is what we can do”

The real benefit to it is as a training aid, the complexity of the sensors embedded in the components allow you to work on very specific areas of your cycling…

The brakes are lovely, very neat, all integrated into Di2 too

BB7s are more than adequate for a road bike, absolutely no need for hydro faff.

Not sure what the “faff” is with hydro. I don’t find it any harder to work with that cables and rubber pads.

What you lot are missing is that cycling is desperately hooked on the need for new gear and more and more niche bits.Thats the point of them to many. I’d like them. Discs are less hassle in some ways although maybe not on a race bike. Hydro’s are less fussy. My cables need fettling eg to set the static pad. My hydro’s need forgetting about until the pads run to metal.
However until someone produces something like the Magura road hydro that pushes disc pads and is built into a STi it won’t be neat enough.
Tha pic is a mess.

pad life on road discs is extrodinary, 3 years 15k, don’t even look worn fully expect them to last another 5 years.

Not sure what the “faff” is with hydro.

Should have added a disclaimer about me being completely useless with bleeding brakes and that sort of thing. Currently my BB7 is working and feeling much, much better than both an Avid Juicy 5 and a Formula K18. I’d rather just have to wind in a pad adjuster every few months rather than do a proper bleed.

I can’t wait to get discs on my CX, by the end of my very wet, gritty commute across the Quauntocks and back yesterday the levers where back to the bars (they’ve been fine in the dry) and braking distances had trippled.

Same here. Last night on gravel tracks V’s were useless. Road calipers are better but not much cop in mud.

If ya cantis don’t work you havn’t got enough mud on ya rims 😉

Volagi Road Bikes

Carbon road bike with disk brakes.

LS – Member
What drawbacks would they be, then?

The need to keep rims really true, need to replace rims, higher cost of brake pads, need to adjust brakes, poorer performance, particularly in the wet.

I think that’s it.

thisisnotaspoon – Member
Why though?

The brakes on my road bike are probably more powerfull than the 140/160mm combo on my XC bike, and work perfectly well even in the wet.

The brakes on my tourer (50yr old cantis) can stop it perfectly well, even when fully laden (about 175kg for me+bike+kit).

Why would I upgrade to a heavier, more complicated system?

cos they are better innit. when did you last hear someone say “I prefer that system becuase it doesn’t work quite so well”? 🙄

Not sure what the “faff” is with hydro.

Should have added a disclaimer about me being completely useless with bleeding brakes and that sort of thing. Currently my BB7 is working and feeling much, much better than both an Avid Juicy 5 and a Formula K18. I’d rather just have to wind in a pad adjuster every few months rather than do a proper bleed.

Still the myth about bleeding! Why? you only bleed a brake after repairing a fault that has allowed air into the system. Hydraulic brakes can be considered fit-and-forget for five years or more. My HOPEs went on in 2003 and have required not intervention other than drop new pads in from time to time.

You should rebleed hydro brakes every year or so to maintain performance – still its not much hassle

Never bled my Shimano hydros in 8 years, they are working fine.

I suppose one may need to bleed the inferior brands 😛

i’d love discs on my road bike, the idea of using the rim as a braking surface seems daft to me.

my nice new wheels are already starting to wear out.

Still the myth about bleeding! Why?

Personal experience and general incompetence I suspect. Took me about 5-6 times to get my Juicy 5 bled the first time I did it. That was for each brake. Set up my BB7 in about half an hour (if that) and it works better 😆 Maybe better brakes are easier to bleed.

Never bled my Shimano hydros in 8 years, they are working fine.
I suppose one may need to bleed the inferior brands

Hasn’t it got more to do with the brake fluids decreasing ability to cope with high temperatures, especially after 8 years, rather than the brand of brake? i guess if you’re not doing any long descents you won’t notice.

cynic-al – Member
The need to keep rims really true, need to replace rims, higher cost of brake pads, need to adjust brakes, poorer performance, particularly in the wet.

I think that’s it.

Build your wheels properly and you’ll rarely have a problem. Just replaced my carbon rims after four years of (ab)use and didn’t even bother with carbon-specific pads. Pads lasted two years on average. Set the brakes up in August and apart from the odd twist of the barrel adjuster they don’t need touching until strip-down time in March.
In twenty years of CX I can count one one hand the number of times I’ve needed more braking.
Discs are more powerful, I’ll give you that. I wouldn’t want to go back to cantis on the MTB but for cross I remain to be convinced.

Shimanos have mineral oil which is less affected by water. However they still build up wear particles and dust in the fluid – changing it prolongs the life of the components by reducing wear. After years of usage you no longer have mineral oil, you have dilute grinding paste. Bleed out a set of old brakes and you can see the particles in the fluid.

Me – I am happy to do a bit of simple preventative maintenance

LS – Member

Build your wheels properly and you’ll rarely have a problem. Just replaced my carbon rims after four years of (ab)use and didn’t even bother with carbon-specific pads. Pads lasted two years on average. Set the brakes up in August and apart from the odd twist of the barrel adjuster they don’t need touching until strip-down time in March.
In twenty years of CX I can count one one hand the number of times I’ve needed more braking.
Discs are more powerful, I’ll give you that. I wouldn’t want to go back to cantis on the MTB but for cross I remain to be convinced.

I do build my wheels properly thanks – no issues there after having build hundreds of apirs, used in Pru-tour, DH worlds etc 😛 . Still it’s easy to knock wheels out if you are riding a cx bike like I do – i.e. on mtb trails rather than cx races in fields and parks.

Carbon rims aren’t really relevant – only a handful of folk will be using them.

Yes you can usually lock up wheels in the dry with cantis, but I’ll not be going back.

Another benefit – less dirt on the bike/house in the wet (applies more to road bikes)

TJ – I’ll have a look at the fluid in my shimanos and see what “grinding paste” comes out. My guess is it won’t really be “grinding paste” at all…

oh, and rim-brakes in the wet sound awful.

I used carbon rims as an example of the fact that rims don’t really wear down that quickly.
If you’re using a cross bike on proper MTB trails then I think it’s fair to say that you’re using it beyond the original intention. Cross in terms of actual cross racing and not as a catch-all term for using a cx-style bike off-road doesn’t need much by way of braking.

disks all the way for CX / commuter bike.
However, bb7 cable disks have more than enough stopping power, much more than the tyre contact patch enables.

Why disks? As said before things like power, no fade, no wearing out of parts, etc. The biggest advantage is being able to run with a wobbly wheel.
As an example a few weeks ago I had a fairly big off while commuting about 10 miles from home. Front wheel hit a big rock very hard and had a lateral wobble of about 3cm. Dusted myself down and could continue. If I’d have been running canti’s it would have meant a long walk home, or a good amount of time re-truing the wheel.

LS – Fair enough re. purpose, though the cx races I’ve seen/done involve a lot of mud…and on winter road bikes and mtbs, I’ve had to replace alu rims every 1-2 years with rim-brakes.

I just don’t see why folk are so reluctant to accept disc brakes, the only (and fairly meaningless IMO) disadvantage is weight.

“Oh no I don’t want that braking system because it brakes better”